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To C&P myself from the previous thread, this looks awesome but I have a few questions: 1. Does the language work without an internet connection? 2. Is it free

To C&P myself from the previous thread, this looks awesome but I have a few questions: 1. Does the language work without an internet connection? 2. Is it free to use? 3. What happens if/when Wolfram the company goes out of business, or Wolfram himself retires? 4. Are all the disparate APIs and sources that the language uses determined by fiat, or can they be customized? What happens if/when the APIs/sources stop working? 5. Given that the language can do things like query your Facebook graph, it seems like there's a lot of API upkeep that the language requires. Is this done by Wolfram? How does this work when I'm running locally (if this is even possible)?

brudgers 13y ago
I had similar thoughts about humanity losing access to Wolfram's Mathematica after reading of his trip to the Leibniz archive last April. After all corporate officers have fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder value and computing is littered with inaccessible code due to foundering companies. I have become less worried. Wolfram invites comparisons to people like Leibniz for his own ends. I think it is less to stoke his vanity than to set high standards for himself. Choosing Newton as a role model may be vain but it also places massive responsibility upon him. Newton sought to solve important problems not disrupt pet grooming social networks. He has extended Mathematica and added a search engine and is shipping it with the most affordable computer hardware he can find. Wolfram Language is an attempt to make maximum human knowledge available and Wolfram has chosen to distribute it inside a project to provide universal access to computing hardware. Will it all work out? There are no guarantees. Millenia are long and media fragile. But I don't think there are many people more committed to the challenge than Wolfram. http://blog.stephenwolfram.com/2013/05/dropping-in-on-gottfried-leibniz/ http://blog.stephenwolfram.com/2013/05/dropping-in-on-gottfr...

brudgers 13y ago

I had similar thoughts about humanity losing access to Wolfram's Mathematica after reading of his trip to the Leibniz archive last April. After all corporate officers have fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder value and computing is littered with inaccessible code due to foundering companies. I have become less worried. Wolfram invites comparisons to people like Leibniz for his own ends. I think it is less to stoke his vanity than to set high standards for himself. Choosing Newton as a role model may be vain but it also places massive responsibility upon him. Newton sought to solve important problems not disrupt pet grooming social networks. He has extended Mathematica and added a search engine and is shipping it with the most affordable computer hardware he can find. Wolfram Language is an attempt to make maximum human knowledge available and Wolfram has chosen to distribute it inside a project to provide universal access to computing hardware. Will it all work out? There are no guarantees. Millenia are long and media fragile. But I don't think there are many people more committed to the challenge than Wolfram. http://blog.stephenwolfram.com/2013/05/dropping-in-on-gottfried-leibniz/ http://blog.stephenwolfram.com/2013/05/dropping-in-on-gottfr...